Former All-American Tanner enshrined into Waves hall of fame

A former multiple All-American and NCAA champion received one of the highest honors for a Pepperdine athlete.

Former Waves men’s volleyball player and college assistant coach Troy Tanner was formally inducted into the Pepperdine Hall of Fame on Sunday.

Tanner was a three-time All-American outside attacker and setter during his college career from 1983-87. After redshirting as sophomore in 1984, Tanner returned to the court and helped guide the Waves to back-to-back NCAA championships in 1985 and 1986.


Pepperdine reached the Final Four every season Tanner played on the team, but no NCAA Tournament run was more dramatic than his junior year in 1986. Playing USC in the championship match, Pepperdine overcame a 14-12 deficit in the decisive fifth game to win the match and national title in overtime.

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Pepperdine during Tanner’s four-year college career won at least 20 matches each season and had a .804 winning percentage.

Following his time in college, Tanner was one of four Waves selected to the U.S. Men’s National Team that won the gold medal at the 1988 Olympics. In addition, Tanner played professional volleyball in Europe and competed in beach volleyball on the AVP Tour during the 1990s.

Tanner became a college coach in 1997 while pursuing his master’s degree at BYU. The former All-American was an assistant coach for the BYU men’s volleyball team until 2002 and helped guide the Cougars to NCAA championships in 1999 and 2001.

Tanner also served as a coach for the beach team of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh and helped the pair win the gold medal at the 2008 Olympics.

Tanner was one of three former Wave players inducted into the Pepperdine Hall of Fame on Sunday. In addition, former Pepperdine basketball coach Jim Harrick and the 2006 Pepperdine men’s tennis team, which won the NCAA championship, were part of the class of 2011.

This is the fourth consecutive year that a member of the men’s volleyball has been selected to the Pepperdine Hall of Fame. Tanner is the eighth Pepperdine men’s volleyball player to receive the honor.